Gissurarson in Nordisk Tidskrift

Professor Emeritus Hannes H. Gissurarson, RNH research director, published an article in Nordisk Tidskrift, No. 2 2025, on the recent entry of Finland and Sweden into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO. He argued that all five Nordic countries had in the past pursued policies that were based on their real interests. States have interests, not friends. Finland had to reconcile herself to the fact that she had a powerful and brutal neighbour and no real allies in the world. Sweden could because of her location and strong defence stay out of wars since 1814. Denmark, Norway, and Iceland, all occupied in the Second World War, realised that they needed the security guarantee offered after the War by the United States. But the belligerence of Russia which invade Ukraine for the second time in 2022 brought about a change of policies in Finland and Sweden. These countries realised that neutrality was no longer a feasible alternative. NATO had to be strong enough that Russia would not attack any NATO country. In the background, China was looming. She was spending more on her military than the European members of NATO combined. The accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO was historic, Gissurarson observed. This was the first time the five Nordic countries aligned themselves to one another geopolitically since the dissolution of the Kalmar Union in 1523. Gissurarson’s article is here:

Gissurarson Article in Nordisk Tidskrift